Door of opportunity opens for Iranians arriving at Logan
As dozens of Iranian immigrants trickling through customs at Logan airport yesterday rushed into long hugs from their loved ones, setting off cheers from those gathered to see them arrive, a 30-year-old man named Moshen paced in small circles with a worried look on his face.
Moshen was waiting anxiously to see his mother, Kefayat, for the first time in two years. She was among the nearly 40 Iranian immigrants who had boarded a Boston-bound Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt, Germany, yesterday morning.
When Kefayat walked out into the international terminal, Moshen broke down crying and ran toward her shouting, “Mama, mama,” before wrapping her in a tearful embrace.
“It’s wonderful. I can’t say how happy I am right now,” Moshen, who is studying mechanical engineering at Tennessee Tech, said through tears. “I came up from Tennessee and I have not slept in 48 hours. It’s not right to ban people from seeing their families.”
Kefayat, hoping to move to the U.S. to be with her family, was one of the many travelers scrambling to get into the country yesterday during a temporary stay of President Trump’s executive order restricting travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries.
A Seattle judge on Friday halted the temporary immigration ban nationwide, something the White House has vowed to fight.
Also at Logan yesterday was a 41-year-old San Francisco business owner named Ramin, who greeted his mother-in-law, Ziba, who was the first Iranian to clear customs. Ziba said she arrived on a six-month visa to help care for her first grandson, who is due March 12.
“We are happy that we have good judges who can operate the law and the Constitution,” she said. “I was not sure I would get here in time.”
Pedram Paragomi, a postdoctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh, said he was in line, boarding pass in hand, when he was told he couldn’t fly to Detroit from Amsterdam on Jan. 28.
Dina Haynes, one of several area lawyers who was offering free legal services to immigrants hoping to get into the United States, said his experience wasn’t unusual.
“People on this flight were stuck with no food vouchers, no change of clothes,” she said. “They have literally been sitting in airports for five or six days.”
Bardia Godazandeh, 25, was on hand to welcome his mother to Boston.
On her first attempt to visit her two sons, Godazandeh said his mother was forced to return to Iran from the United Arab Emirates.